If your loved one has been injured in a nursing home, then you deserve answers. Given your loved one’s vulnerabilities, they deserve to be treated in the safest fashion possible, and you should be advised when something goes wrong and they end up hurt.
In far too many instances, though, nursing homes and their employees try to cover up negligent behavior that leads to patient injuries, making it hard for you to discover the truth. But you might be able to get to the heart of the matter and find accountability by taking legal action in the form of a nursing home neglect lawsuit.
Merely levying allegations against a negligent nursing home is going to be insufficient if you want to win your case. Instead, you’ll need persuasive evidence that draws a connection between problematic actions or inactions and the harm suffered by your loved one.
But figuring out where to start building one of these cases can be tough, which is why in the remainder of this post we want to give you some ideas of how to start building your strategy.
There’s a lot that goes into proving nursing home neglect. If you want to increase your chances of succeeding on your claim, obtaining accountability, and recovering compensation for your loved one, then you might want to do the following:
- Document your observations and your interactions: There’s going to be a lot of argument over what was said and what injuries your loved one actually suffered. Trying to recall all those details can be challenging after the fact. If you write down your observations and interactions shortly after they occur, though, then you’ll be able to recall them with more clarity. Taking pictures of your loved one’s injuries, like pressure sores, can also be compelling.
- Discuss the facility’s care with other patients: If your loved one has been subjected to nursing home neglect, there’s a good chance that they’re not the only one. By discussing the type of care provided at the facility with other patients, you might gain a better sense of how widespread the issue is. This evidence can strengthen your nursing home neglect claim.
- Ask detailed questions: When you identify injuries to your loved one, you should ask pointed questions of the facility. This will lock them into a position, and it might give you more information to investigate. You might even acquire admissions that clearly indicate that your loved one was treated unfairly and negligently at their nursing home.
- Gain access to records: A nursing home should keep detailed records of the medical care provided to your loved one, the nutrition they received, and any incidences that could’ve resulted in injuries. By assessing this documentation, you might discover mistakes that were made that put your loved one’s health and safety at risk.
Hold a negligent nursing home accountable for the harm they cause
Nursing home neglect can cause painful injuries that last for a significant time and put your loved one’s long-term health and perhaps even their life at risk. To recover compensation for this harm and to obtain accountability that will protect other residents, you need to aggressively pursue legal action.
Don’t worry if you don’t know how to do that on your own. Help is available to provide you with the information and guidance that you need to make fully informed decisions targeted at protecting your loved one’s interests.
